Apparatus for and method of surfacing metals, etc.



June H. R. HERCHENRIDERY 2,244,536

APPARATUS FOR AND METHOD OF SURFACING METALS, ETC.

Filed Oct. 50, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet l RR 21 23 A5 INVENTOR Henry/Q. #lerafien lber June 3, i- H. R. HERCHENRIDER 2 3 APPARATUS FOR AND METHOD OF SURFAGING METALS, ETC.

INVENTO render it suitable for various uses.

Patented June 3, 1941 APPARATUS FOR AND METHOD F SURE)- ING METALS, ETC.

Henry R. Herchenrider, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing fiompany, St. Paul, Minn., a corporation of Delaware Application October 30, 1937, Serial No. 171,961

14 Claims.

My invention relates to the art of' grinding, scouring, polishing and cleaning the surfaces of metal strips or sheets. flat wire, etc.

The invention is hereinafter described as employed in the surfacing of long'strips of metal such as those produced on continuous mills, but it will be understood that various features of the invention can be employed in the surfacing of other articles.

Steel strip and thelike, mustin most cases be given special surfacing treatment in order to In some instances a simple grinding and polishing thereof is sufficient. But difliculties have been encountered in effecting uniform grinding orpolishing of a strip in those cases where a given area of abrasive material is applied to successive portions of a strip, because initially theabrasive action will be greater than on succeeding portions of the strip, owing to the loss of a large percentage of the abrasive efiect, with the result that the strip toward its rear end is likely to be form scouring of the strip throughout its entire length.

Another object of my invention is to provide a means and a method whereby a larger percentage of the abrasive-coated paper or cloth can be utilized than in the case of certain methods heretofore employed. r

A further object of my invention is to surface strips or sheets in such manner that plating or coating materials will tightly adhere thereto.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a method or apparatus of generally simplified and improved formfor theisurface treatment.

of metal.

Some of the forms of apparatus by which my invention may be practiced are shown in the etc-- companying drawings wherein'Figure 1 is a front view of a grinding or scourin apparatus; Fig. 2 is an end view thereof; Fig. 3 is a View taken on the line III-III of Fig. 1;.Fig. 4 is a side view partly in section of another form of apparatus; Fig. 5 is a view taken on the line VV of Fig. 4, and Fig. 6 is a sectionalview showing a modified form of the structure of Fig.4.

Referring first to Figs. 1 to 3, I show standards 8 and 9. The standards 'at their upper'ends are or tinned by either the electro-plating or dipping process, the sheets or strips are subjected to various treatments which require a long period of time and which are expensive, such treatments surface for tight galvanizing, or other plating,

with the result that the coating will crack and peel from the strip. Furthermore, various alloy steels such as those of copper-bearing type etc. become discolored or stained during the annealing and pickling treatments.

One object of my invention is to provide means -for subjecting the strip to a very high degree of abrasive pressure.

Another object of my invention is to provide means for continuously supplying fresh abrasive to a moving strip, and to, therefore, effect unirigidly connected by'a cross beam in. A crossbeam II extends across the standards 8 and 9 and is slidably supported at its ends in slideways l2 formed in the standards 8 and 9. The beam H is supported from the beam lllffor vertical adjustment, by means of hanger rods it that are connected at their lower endsto-pins M, which extend through theflangesot-the cross-bar H, the walls of the standards 8 and 9 being slotted as indicated at IE, to permit of vertical adjustments of the bar H and the pins or studs M serving to prevent axial shifting of the bar i I. The hangers I3 at their upper ends extend through the cross bar I9 and are threaded for engagement with hand wheels I6 which are supported upon the bar it! and, can be turned to raise or lower the bar H.

A presser roller ii is journalled at its ends in bearings!!! carried by the upper beam H]. A lower presser roll i9 is journalled in bearings 20 that are carried by the cross bar H. Rotation of the hand wheels 16 will, therefore, result in movement of the rolls l1 and i9 toward or away froriione another to vary the degree of pressure, as will behereinafter explained. The rolls l1 and 'lfl may be faced with hard rubber or other suit- 22 that are carried by the beam I 0. The shaft 2! serves to support a reel or spool 23 upon which is carried a supply of abrasive in the form of an abrasively-coated strip of paper, cloth or the like. A shaft 24 is journalled in bearings 25 caried by the beam H, and has a spool 26 that supports a roll of abrasive as does the spool 23. A metal strip to be polished is indicated by the numeral 2'! and is advanced between the rolls I? and I3 in any suitable manner, as by driven rolls 28. The strip 27 may be supplied to the polishing apparatus from a continuous mill, or drawn from a coil. Short sheets instead of long strips could also be fed through the apparatus in a suitstrip moves, but at a much lower rate of speed,

The abrasive paper or strips may be caused to travel at from six inches per minute to 18 inches per minute, for example, depending upon the character of abrasive employed and the rapidity with which the abrasive becomes worn through contact with the sheet. It will be understood that the abrasive strips may be caused to move at various rates of speed relative to the work being ground or polished, and that it may be moved counter to the work instead of in the same direction; also that the rolls I1 and I9 can be positively driven in order to assist in or control travel of the strips.

In setting the machine into operation, the ends of the abrasive strips 29 and 30 are drawn from the reels 23 and 26 respectively, across the opposite faces of the pressure rolls l1 and I9. These ends are then secured to take-up rolls 3! and 32 respectively, which are journalled in the standards 8 and 3. The movement of the steel strip 27 through the apparatus will tend to draw the strips 29 and 30 forwardly, and retarding means are provided for preventing the abrasive strips moving at the same rateof speed as the steel strip, whereby the relatively faster speed of the steel strip will result in an abrading or polishing action thereon by the strips.

As above indicated, the paper is fed into abrading position by the drag of the metal strip 21. The unreeling movement of the paper is controlled by a motor 35 which through a gear-reducing unit 36 drives a vertical shaft 31. At its upper end the shaft 31 has beveled gear connection 38 with a horizontal shaft 39 that car ries a worm 40 meshing with a worm wheel 48 that is secured to the end of the reel shaft 2|. At its lower end, the shaft 3'! has beveled gear connection at 42 with a shaft 43 that through a worm gear unit 44 has geared connection with the reel shaft 24. The motor 35 is operated at such controlled speed that the abrasive strips will not be drawn too rapidly from their reels, and the rate of rotation of the motor will be controlled to restrain movementof the abrasive strips to a desired slow rate of speed relative to the speed at which the strip 21 travels.

The abrasive strip can be permitted to move at such slow rate of speed relative to the travel of the metal strip that the abrasive surface thereof will become substantially completely worn off, and the worn ends can immediately be torn off and discarded. However, in the present case,

' I provide the take-up reels 3! and 32 for receiving the worn portions of the abrasive strips. The

reel 3! is driven from a pulley 45 mounted on the end of the shaft 2! and a belt 36 that passes around a small pulley on the end of the reel 3!. The reel shaft 32 is similarly driven from the shaft 25, through a belt drive 51. The belts 45 and ll are sufliciently loose that they constitute a friction drive for the take-up reels, so that while there is sufiicient driving force transmitted to the reels 3i to take up the worn paper, such force is not so great as to tear the paper, or so great that it will tend to advance the paper too rapidly.

The rolls l1 and 69 preferably have faces of material which can be compressed slightly half inch in width and the presser rolls l1 and I9 may be drawn toward one another to such an extent that they will exert perhaps 700 lbs. pressure per square inch. The degree of pressure will, of course, be varied in accordance with the character of abrasive employed, and the extent to which it is desired to grind or polish the metal strips.

When the various parts of the apparatus are brought into operative position, as shown in the drawings, strip-advancing rolls 28 and the retarding motor 35 are set into operation. As heretofore explained, the retarding motor is operated at such speed that the abrasive strips will move much slower than the steel strip, and in most cases the rate of movement of the abrasive strips will be such that their abrading surfaces will be completely worn off. It will be seen that a fresh supply of abrasive is entering the pressure zone at all times during the passing of the steel strip, and that, therefore, the strip will be uniformly abraded from end to end. The steel strips will frequently be of from 100 feet in length to 1,000 feet in length, or more. Ordinarily the amount of paper or the number of turns of paper on the supply reels is not so great that there is marked difference in speed of unwinding movement of the paper as the supply becomes depleted through withdrawal, but if desired, the speed of the motor 35 can be increased slightly as the I paper becomes drawn from the supply rolls.

Referring now to Figs. 4 and 5, I show a structure wherein abrasive strips may be employed for polishing metal sheets or metal strips, that may be moved by feed rolls or the like, such as the rolls 28, in either direction through the apparatus or which may be reciprocated therein. In this construction, standards are provided for supporting the working part of the apparatus. A billy roll is journalled in the standards, and a presser roll 52 is journalled in slide bearings 53 that are supported in the standards 50 for vertical adjustment. Screw-downs 54 are provided for adjusting the bearings 53 so that the roller 52 will be moved toward the roller 5| so as to subject the abrasive strips 55 and 55 and the steel strip 51 to desired degrees of pressure. Drums or reels '58 and 59 are provided for the upper strip 56, and drums or reels 60 and GI are provided for the lower strip 55, these reels being mounted on shafts that are journalled in the framework in substantially the same manner as are the shafts 2| and 24. A vertical shaft 62 has beveled gear driving connection at 63 with the shaft of reel 58, and beveled gear driving connection at 54 with the shaft of the reel 50; Similarly, a shaft 65 has beveled gear driving connection at 66 with the shaft of the reel 59 and at 61 has driving connection with the shaft of the reel 6|.

A motor 68 is provided for controlling the rate of rotation of the shafts 52 and 65. The motor shaft'through a reducing gear 89 and a worm l drive a worm wheel 'H whose hubs 12 and 13 are provided with clutch teeth. Clutch elements 14 and 15 are movable on shafts l8 respectively. The shafts l6 and 11 are connected through bevel gears 18 and '19 respectively, with the shafts 62 and 65.

The shaft of the worm 'lfl'has secured thereto a pulley 8!] which through a belt 8| drives a pulley 82 whose hubs have clutch elements 83 and 84. A clutch element 85 is 'slidably keyed on a shaft 86 for movement into and out of driving engagement with the clutch element 83. A clutch element 81 is slidably keyed on a shaft '88 for movement into and out of driving connection with the clutch element 84. A belt drive 89 is provided between the shafts 16 and 8B, and a belt drive 90 between the shafts 11 and 88.

With the parts in the position shown in Fig. 4

. and the motor 6-8 in operation, there is connection through the clutch elements 12-14 with the reels 58 and 69, so that the strip in traveling in the direction indicated by the arrow, will not draw the abrasive strips 55 and 56 from their respective reels too rapidly. In other words, the paper will be drawn from the reels at a desired low rate of speed, as heretofore explained. At this time, the reels. 59 and BI function as takeup reels, being loosely driven from the pulley 82, from which the power is transmitted through the clutch elements 84' and 81; thence through a slipping belt drive 90 to the shaft 11 and the shaft 65.

When a strip is, to be ground or polished while moving in the opposite direction, the reels 59 and BI serve as supplyreels and the reels 58 and 60 as take-up reels. In such instances, the clutch elements 1 2 and 1-4 are disengaged, as are also the clutch elements 84 and 81. The clutch elements 13-45 are brought into engagement so that the motor will have the desired retarding effect on rotation of the shaft 65, while the clutch elements 83 and 85 are brought into engagement to effect driving of the shaft '62 from the loose belt 89,

In this structure, the apparatus can be so opelated as to effect complete wearing out of the paper, or the paper, by reason of the reverse movement abovedescribed can be used a pluference will have a narrower width of contact wit-h the abrasive strips in directions axially of the rolls, but they will not be of sufficient strength to permit applying very heavy pressure thereto.

It will be seen that with larger size rolls, which may cause the abrasive strips to contact with the metal strip for a width of perhaps one inch, in directions axially of the rolls, a given degree of pressure applied to the rolls will not give as great square-inch pressure of the abrasive strips on the steel strip as can be secured through the use of a similar degree of pressure applied to smaller rolls which will cause a contact area of but one-half inch in width by the abrasive strips on the steel.

In order to permit of the application of high pressure to rolls of narrower width, I provide back-up rolls for the pressure or pinch rolls, as shown in- Fig. 6. This structure in all other respects may be the same as the structure of Figs. 4 and 5, and the idea could also be applied to the structure of Figs. 1 to 3. The abrasive strips 92 and 93 may be driven in the same manner as are the strips and .56. A presser roll 94 is journalled in the framework of the machine, as is the presser roll 5|, and a pair of back-up rolls 95 are also journalled in the framework of the machine and serve to support the roll 94 against deflection under pressure. The upper presser or pinch roll 96 corresponds to the roll 52 and is journalled in a vertically-adjustable block 91 which is operated by a hand wheel 98 to effect the desired degree of pressure by the abrasive strips 92 and 93 on the metalstrip 99. Back-up rolls I00 are also journalled in the bearing blocks 91, and serve to support the presser roll 96 against deflection or breakage under pressure. It will be seen that with hold-down force of a given degree, the effective abrasive pressure applied through the strips 92 and 93 upon the metal ,rality of times, if too much of the abrasive surface has notbeenworn away upon the first use thereof. In other words, the grinding pressure and the rate of movement of the paper may be such as to completely wear off the abrasive upon a single movement of the paper, whereas in other instances, a light abrasive pressure may be em ployed.

'In Fig. 6 I show a structure whereby it is possible to effect greater grinding pressure than can be secured through the use of a single pair of presser or pinch rolls, arranged as shown in Fig. 4. When a single pair of presser rolls are employed, they must be of sufiicient strength to withstand the pressure forces to be applied thereto. Therefore, when it is desired to apply high pressure to the rolls, they must be of large diameter and circumference, with the result that the area of contact with the abrasive strip is sheet will be much greater in the structured Fig. 6 than in the structure of Fig. 4, because of 1 the relatively smaller diameters of the rolls 94 and 96.

I claim as my invention:

1. The method of surfacing strip material and the like, which comprises imparting traveling movement to the material and simultaneously maintaining an abrasive strip in contact with the material and effecting continuous traveling movement of the abrasive strip with the material, at a substantially lower rate of speed.

2. The method of surfacing strip material and the like, which comprises imparting traveling movement to the material, simultaneously imposing an abrasive strip against said material with pressure sufficient to cause substantial advancing force to be exerted upon the strip through frictional contact with the material, and restraining advancing movement of the strip to a rate of continuous travel substantially slower than that of the material.

4. Grinding and polishing apparatus comprising means for imparting traveling movement to I strip material and the like, reels of abrasive strips supported at opposite sides of the path of said traveling movement of the material, means for causing the abrasive strips to be continuously advanced through traveling movement of said material, and a common motor control for retarding the rate at which the abrasive strips will be withdrawn from said reels, .to a speed which is slower than that at which the material travels.

5. The method of surfacing strip material or the like, which comprises imparting traveling movement to the material, while maintaining an abrasive strip in frictional engagement therewith, on a narrow area which extends transversely of the material, and simultaneously effecting continuous traveling movement to the abrasive strip, in a path generally parallel to the path of movement of the material and at a substantially lower speed.

6. The method of surfacing strip material or the like, which comprises imparting traveling movement to the material, while maintaining an abrasive strip in frictional engagement therewith, on a narrow area which extends transversely of the material, and simultaneously effecting continuous traveling movement to the abrasive strip, in a path generally parallel to the path of movement of the material and at a substantially lower speed, the degree of frictional pressure and the relative slowness of movement by the abrasive strip being such that the major portion of the abrasive will become expended during a single traveling movement thereof on the material.

'7. The method of surfacing strip material or the like, which comprises imparting traveling movement to the material, while maintaining an abrasive strip in frictional engagement there with, on a narrow area which extends transversely of the material, and simultaneously effecting continuous traveling movement to'the abrasive strip, in a direction generally parallel to the path of movement of the material and at a rate not greater than one-fiftieth of the speed at which the material travels.

8. The method of surfacing strip material and the like, which comprises the steps of'bringing an abrasive strip into engagement with said material, applying pressure at the point of contact between the abrasive strip and the material, causing the material to be drawn continuously past said pointof contact, and imparting continuous movement to the abrasive strip, in a path generally parallel to the path of travel of the material, to continuously renew the abrasive surface at said point of contact.

9. The method of surfacing strip material and. the like,'which comprises continuously applying successive portions of an abrasive strip against the surface of the material, while imparting relative traveling movement to the abrasive and the material, in generally parallel paths, the -material at any given area thereof being brought} into-engagement with the abrasive strip but once during a surfacing operation upon the material.

10. Apparatus for surfacing strip material and the like, comprising means for imparting traveling movement to the material, an abrasive strip, means for holding the abrasive strip in engagement with the material, means for so supporting the strip that it will continuously be moved along through frictional engagement with the material, and means for retarding advancing movement of the abrasive strip to a speed substantially slower than the rate at which the material moves.

11. Grinding and polishing apparatus comprising means for imparting traveling movement to strip material and the like, means for holding an abrasive strip against the material, means for efiecting continuous traveling movement of the abrasive strip in a path generally parallel to the path of travel of the material and for bringing successive portions thereof into contact with the material, and means for maintaining a predetermined differential of speed as between the material and the abrasive strip."

12. Grinding and polishing apparatus comprising means for imparting traveling movement to strip material and the like, an abrasive strip, a presser member for holding the abrasive strip against the material, a reel upon which the strip is stored previous to use and from which it is drawn for engagement with the material, means for effecting continuous withdrawal of the strip from said reel and past the presser member, in a path generally parallel to the path of the material, and means limiting the rate at which the strip can be withdrawn from the reel, to a speed bearing a predetermined relation to, but different from, the rate at which the material travels.

13. Apparatusfor surfacing strip material and the like, comprising means for imparting traveling movement to the material, an abrasive strip. a presser roll extending transversely of the path of travel and positioned to maintain the abrasive strip in engagement with the material, a back-up roller for the presser roll, and means for effecting continuous traveling movement of the strip in a path generally parallel to the said path of travel at a substantially slower rate of speed than the rate at which the material travels.

14. Apparatus for surfacing strip material and the like, comprising means forimparting traveling movement to the material, an abrasive strip, a presser roll extending transversely of the path of travel and positioned to maintainthe abrasive strip in engagement with the material, a back-up roller for the presser roll, and means for effecting continuous traveling movement of the strip in a path generally parallel to the said path of travel at a substantially slower rate of speed than the rate at which the material travels, the presser roll having a compressible face and the rolls being adjustable perpendicularly of the plane of the material.

HENRY R. HERCHENRIDER. 

